a. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to hardware for use in installing and securing a toilet bowl to conventional plumbing couplings utilized in the housing industry, including the manufacture of mobile and prefabricated homes and the like. More specifically, the invention concerns an improved closet bolt structure for facilitating quick, efficient and reliable installation of toilet bowls. The invention also concerns methods for using the improved closet bolt.
b. Description of the Prior Art
The improved closet bolt of the present invention is an improvement over a prior art closet bolt in common use today, which is described in T. D. Flood, U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,215, for "Self-Retaining Closet Bolt." A prior art bolt such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,215 is marketed by Hercules Chemical Company, Inc. (New York, NY), under the registered trademark "JOHNI-BOLT."
A closet bolt is generally used to attach a plastic, vitreous or ceramic toilet bowl to the sewage outlet of a plumbing system via a conventional flanged coupling ring which is connected to the sewage piping. The flange is generally circular and has a diameter larger than the diameter of the plumbing hole provided in the floor on which the toilet will rest. The flange is provided with a series of two or more arcuate slots having one enlarged end adapted to receive the head of a closet bolt. The flange may also have straight slots extending inwardly from opposite outer edges of the flange for use in situations where positioning adjustments permitted by the arcuate slots are not necessary, such as in the mass production of mobile trailer homes, recreation camper vehicles, or apartment dwellings and the like.
The ceramic toilet bowl is provided with bolt-receiving holes in its base so that the threaded portion of closet bolt will project upwardly through the base of the toilet bowl.
A prior art closet bolt has a generally oval head, a threaded fastening portion generally concentric with respect thereto and a diametrically reduced, circumferentially smooth shank portion disposed between the head and the fastening portion of the bolt and concentric with respect thereto. The shank portion of the bolt includes a captive floating washer member enabling movement of the washer longitudinally on the shank portion so that the washer may be disposed above the customary toilet bowl flange coupling member or ring, where required, to retain the bolt head down disposed within either the arcuate or straight slot provided in the flange member. The entire disclosure of T. D. Flood, U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,215, for "Self-Retaining Closet Bolt," is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
In common practice, the '215 prior art closet bolt suffers from a number of disadvantages in ease of installation and ease of removal upon subsequent plumbing repairs as are commonly necessary. The usual procedure for installing a toilet bowl is to position the requisite number of closet bolts within either the arcuate slots or the straight slots of the mounting flange. The captive washer may first be moved upwardly along the shank portion before such placement of the bolt in the slot, however, so that the washer acts to restrain the bolt from dropping out of the slot in the case where the slot is not located over any flooring, but is instead over the opening in the floor. It is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that, while a plain threaded bolt may also be employed, such use is to be avoided because there is no structure provided for holding the ordinary bolt in a vertical position with the bolt head down.
Because the amount of vertical movement of the washer, determined by the length of the shank smooth portion, is designed to accommodate the thickest toilet mounting rings in use, the '215 closet bolt has been found to tilt over from true vertical when put in position to receive the toilet bowl. When two or more closet bolts so tilt over, the upper ends of the bolts may no longer be separated by the standardized distance between the holes in the base of the toilet bowl, thus making placement of the bowl on the bolts difficult. Workers installing toilets have often been forced to improvise various methods of keeping the closet bolts vertical, including having an assistant place his or her fingers under the descending ceramic bowl to locate and position the bolts in the bolt-receiving holes.
Furthermore, despite the provision of raised projections on the shank side of the bolt head, prior art closet bolts have been found to turn with the securing nut when the nut is tightened, thus failing to truly secure the toilet bowl to the floor. This problem is most troubling in the environment of mobile homes and the like, where the floor is subject to frequent, and often severe, shock and vibration.
In addition, because closet bolts have in the past been constructed of brass or steel or other metal, such bolts have been found to rust or otherwise corrode, due to frequent wetting by toilet water, cleaning solutions and urine, so as to make removal of the nut impossible without cutting the bolt. Due to the often cramped quarters in which the plumber must work, the ceramic toilet bowl may often be marred, chipped or otherwise damaged when the corroded closet bolt is cut with a bolt cutter or other similar tool.
It is apparent that an improved closet bolt eliminating the aforementioned drawbacks and difficulties would provide significant savings in time and expense of various plumbing operations, include installation and removal of toilet bowls.